Achievement

Interactions among IGERT faculty and trainees from different disciplines catalyzed pioneering new research that may help to explain why childhood stunting has remained such an intractable public health problem in developing countries. Trainee Laura Smith has published the evidence, drawn from multiple disciplines, that underpins the hypothesis that she's investigating in her dissertation research. Laura hypothesizes that widespread contamination of staple foods with mycotoxins may be a primary cause of environmental enteropathy (a subclinical condition affecting the small intestine), which in turn may be mediating childhood stunting due to increased intestinal permeability and decreased nutrient absorption.